The Greatest Story Ever Told As You Never Heard it Before Brought to you by Bible Society and dramatised by Riding Lights Theatre Company, this audio CD set brings to life the whole New Testament in a dynamic and vibrant way. Let the power of audio storytelling take you back to first century Palestine Listen to the extraordinary life and teaching of Jesus Hear the compelling dramas of the early Church Discover more than you thought possible – enter into this audio experience and encounter the New Testament afresh. The stunning recording is an unabridged reading of the Contemporary English Version (CEV) New Testament – featuring Russell Boulter, Israel Oyelumade and 31 other actors. Sections from this recording previously used as part of Bible Society’s You’ve Got the Time programme. Running time approximately 20 hours The multi-voice recording of the New Testament was created by Riding Lights Theatre Company in May 2010 at the Digital Audio Studios in Skipton. Engineered and edited by Dave Aston. The text was adapted for voices by Paul Burbridge, with assistance from Yvonne Morley. Director: Paul Burbridge Assistant Director: Yvonne Morley Performed by: Kolade Agboke, Nadia Albina, Nicholas Bensberg, Susan Beresford, Russell Boulter, Paul Burbridge, Tim Charrington, Ruben Crow, Fred Denno, Emma Flett, Nigel Forde, Bud Gemmell, Rob Gooch, Pethrow Gooden, Abby Guinness, Vicki Hackett, Andrew Harrison, Julie Higginson, Zannah Hodson, Chris Jack, Gail Kemp, Rebecca Kennedy, Israel Oyelumade, Chris Pearse, Patrick Pearson-Miles, Tom Peters, Jonathan Race, Frances Simon, Luke Waldock, Mal Whiteley, Rachel Wilcock.

The New Testament - Contemporary English Version (Anglicised) 2010

<div class="version vid294 iso6393eng" data-vid="294" data-iso6393="eng">
   <div class="book bkACT">
      <div class="chapter ch2" data-usfm="ACT.2">
         <div class="label">2</div><div class="s1"><span class="heading">The coming of the Holy Spirit</span></div><div class="p"><span class="content">  </span><span class="verse v1" data-usfm="ACT.2.1"><span class="label">1</span><span class="content">On the day of Pentecost</span><span class="note f"><span class="label">#</span><span class=" body"><span class="fr">2.1 </span><span class="fq">Pentecost</span><span class="ft">: A Jewish festival that came fifty days after Passover and celebrated the wheat harvest. Jews later celebrated Pentecost as the time when they were given the Law of Moses.</span></span></span><span class="content"> all the Lord's followers were together in one place.</span><span class="note x"><span class="label">#</span><span class=" body">Lv 23.15-21; Dt 16.9-11.</span></span><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v2" data-usfm="ACT.2.2"><span class="label">2</span><span class="content">Suddenly there was a noise from heaven like the sound of a mighty wind! It filled the house where they were meeting. </span></span><span class="verse v3" data-usfm="ACT.2.3"><span class="label">3</span><span class="content">Then they saw what looked like fiery tongues moving in all directions, and a tongue came and settled on each person there. </span></span><span class="verse v4" data-usfm="ACT.2.4"><span class="label">4</span><span class="content">The Holy Spirit took control of everyone, and they began speaking whatever languages the Spirit let them speak.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v4" data-usfm="ACT.2.4"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v5" data-usfm="ACT.2.5"><span class="label">5</span><span class="content">Many religious Jews from every country in the world were living in Jerusalem. </span></span><span class="verse v6" data-usfm="ACT.2.6"><span class="label">6</span><span class="content">And when they heard this noise, a crowd gathered. But they were surprised, because they were hearing everything in their own languages. </span></span><span class="verse v7" data-usfm="ACT.2.7"><span class="label">7</span><span class="content">They were excited and amazed, and said:</span></span></div><div class="pi"><span class="verse v7" data-usfm="ACT.2.7"><span class="content">Don't all these who are speaking come from Galilee? </span></span><span class="verse v8" data-usfm="ACT.2.8"><span class="label">8</span><span class="content">Then why do we hear them speaking our very own languages? </span></span><span class="verse v9" data-usfm="ACT.2.9"><span class="label">9</span><span class="content">Some of us are from Parthia, Media, and Elam. Others are from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, </span></span><span class="verse v10" data-usfm="ACT.2.10"><span class="label">10</span><span class="content">Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, parts of Libya near Cyrene, Rome, </span></span><span class="verse v11" data-usfm="ACT.2.11"><span class="label">11</span><span class="content">Crete, and Arabia. Some of us were born Jews, and others of us have chosen to be Jews. Yet we all hear them using our own languages to tell the wonderful things God has done.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v11" data-usfm="ACT.2.11"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v12" data-usfm="ACT.2.12"><span class="label">12</span><span class="content">Everyone was excited and confused. Some of them even kept asking each other, &#8220;What does all this mean?&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v12" data-usfm="ACT.2.12"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v13" data-usfm="ACT.2.13"><span class="label">13</span><span class="content">Others made fun of the Lord's followers and said, &#8220;They are drunk.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="s1"><span class="heading">Peter speaks to the crowd</span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v13" data-usfm="ACT.2.13"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v14" data-usfm="ACT.2.14"><span class="label">14</span><span class="content">Peter stood with the eleven apostles and spoke in a loud and clear voice to the crowd:</span></span></div><div class="pi"><span class="verse v14" data-usfm="ACT.2.14"><span class="content">Friends and everyone else living in Jerusalem, listen carefully to what I have to say! </span></span><span class="verse v15" data-usfm="ACT.2.15"><span class="label">15</span><span class="content">You are wrong to think that these people are drunk. After all, it is only nine o'clock in the morning. </span></span><span class="verse v16" data-usfm="ACT.2.16"><span class="label">16</span><span class="content">But this is what God led the prophet Joel to say,</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v16" data-usfm="ACT.2.16"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v17" data-usfm="ACT.2.17"><span class="label">17</span><span class="content">&#8220;When the last days come,</span><span class="note x"><span class="label">#</span><span class=" body">Jl 2.28-32 (LXX).</span></span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v17" data-usfm="ACT.2.17"><span class="content">I will give my Spirit</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v17" data-usfm="ACT.2.17"><span class="content">to everyone.</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v17" data-usfm="ACT.2.17"><span class="content">Your sons and daughters</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v17" data-usfm="ACT.2.17"><span class="content">will prophesy.</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v17" data-usfm="ACT.2.17"><span class="content">Your young men</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v17" data-usfm="ACT.2.17"><span class="content">will see visions,</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v17" data-usfm="ACT.2.17"><span class="content">and your old men</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v17" data-usfm="ACT.2.17"><span class="content">will have dreams.</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v17" data-usfm="ACT.2.17"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v18" data-usfm="ACT.2.18"><span class="label">18</span><span class="content">In those days I will give</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v18" data-usfm="ACT.2.18"><span class="content">my Spirit to my servants,</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v18" data-usfm="ACT.2.18"><span class="content">both men and women,</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v18" data-usfm="ACT.2.18"><span class="content">and they will prophesy.</span></span></div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v18" data-usfm="ACT.2.18"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v19" data-usfm="ACT.2.19"><span class="label">19</span><span class="content">I will perform miracles</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v19" data-usfm="ACT.2.19"><span class="content">in the sky above</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v19" data-usfm="ACT.2.19"><span class="content">and wonders</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v19" data-usfm="ACT.2.19"><span class="content">on the earth below.</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v19" data-usfm="ACT.2.19"><span class="content">There will be blood and fire</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v19" data-usfm="ACT.2.19"><span class="content">and clouds of smoke.</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v19" data-usfm="ACT.2.19"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v20" data-usfm="ACT.2.20"><span class="label">20</span><span class="content">The sun will turn dark,</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v20" data-usfm="ACT.2.20"><span class="content">and the moon</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v20" data-usfm="ACT.2.20"><span class="content">will be as red as blood</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v20" data-usfm="ACT.2.20"><span class="content">before the great</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v20" data-usfm="ACT.2.20"><span class="content">and wonderful day</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v20" data-usfm="ACT.2.20"><span class="content">of the Lord appears.</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v20" data-usfm="ACT.2.20"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v21" data-usfm="ACT.2.21"><span class="label">21</span><span class="content">Then the Lord</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v21" data-usfm="ACT.2.21"><span class="content">will save everyone</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v21" data-usfm="ACT.2.21"><span class="content">who asks for his help.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="pi"><span class="verse v21" data-usfm="ACT.2.21"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v22" data-usfm="ACT.2.22"><span class="label">22</span><span class="content">Now, listen to what I have to say about Jesus from Nazareth. God proved that he sent Jesus to you by having him perform miracles, wonders, and signs. All of you know this. </span></span><span class="verse v23" data-usfm="ACT.2.23"><span class="label">23</span><span class="content">God had already planned and decided that Jesus would be handed over to you. So you took him and had evil men put him to death on a cross.</span><span class="note x"><span class="label">#</span><span class=" body">Mt 27.35; Mk 15.24; Lk 23.33; Jn 19.18.</span></span><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v24" data-usfm="ACT.2.24"><span class="label">24</span><span class="content">But God set him free from death and raised him to life. Death could not hold him in its power.</span><span class="note x"><span class="label">#</span><span class=" body">Mt 28.5,6; Mk 16.6; Lk 24.5.</span></span><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v25" data-usfm="ACT.2.25"><span class="label">25</span><span class="content">What David said are really the words of Jesus,</span><span class="note x"><span class="label">#</span><span class=" body">Ps 16.8-11 (LXX).</span></span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v25" data-usfm="ACT.2.25"><span class="content">&#8220;I always see the Lord</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v25" data-usfm="ACT.2.25"><span class="content">near me,</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v25" data-usfm="ACT.2.25"><span class="content">and I will not be afraid</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v25" data-usfm="ACT.2.25"><span class="content">with him at my right side.</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v25" data-usfm="ACT.2.25"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v26" data-usfm="ACT.2.26"><span class="label">26</span><span class="content">Because of this,</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v26" data-usfm="ACT.2.26"><span class="content">my heart will be glad,</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v26" data-usfm="ACT.2.26"><span class="content">my words will be joyful,</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v26" data-usfm="ACT.2.26"><span class="content">and I will live in hope.</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v26" data-usfm="ACT.2.26"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v27" data-usfm="ACT.2.27"><span class="label">27</span><span class="content">The Lord won't leave me</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v27" data-usfm="ACT.2.27"><span class="content">in the grave.</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v27" data-usfm="ACT.2.27"><span class="content">I am his holy one,</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v27" data-usfm="ACT.2.27"><span class="content">and he won't let</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v27" data-usfm="ACT.2.27"><span class="content">my body decay.</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v27" data-usfm="ACT.2.27"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v28" data-usfm="ACT.2.28"><span class="label">28</span><span class="content">He has shown me</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v28" data-usfm="ACT.2.28"><span class="content">the path to life,</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v28" data-usfm="ACT.2.28"><span class="content">and he makes me glad</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v28" data-usfm="ACT.2.28"><span class="content">by being near me.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="pi"><span class="verse v28" data-usfm="ACT.2.28"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v29" data-usfm="ACT.2.29"><span class="label">29</span><span class="content">My friends, it is right for me to speak to you about our ancestor David. He died and was buried, and his tomb is still here. </span></span><span class="verse v30" data-usfm="ACT.2.30"><span class="label">30</span><span class="content">But David was a prophet, and he knew that God had made a promise he would not break. He had told David that someone from his own family would some day be king.</span><span class="note x"><span class="label">#</span><span class=" body">Ps 132.11; 2 S 7.12,13.</span></span></span></div><div class="pi"><span class="verse v30" data-usfm="ACT.2.30"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v31" data-usfm="ACT.2.31"><span class="label">31</span><span class="content">David knew this would happen, and so he told us that Christ would be raised to life. He said that God would not leave him in the grave or let his body decay. </span></span><span class="verse v32" data-usfm="ACT.2.32"><span class="label">32</span><span class="content">All of us can tell you that God has raised Jesus to life!</span></span></div><div class="pi"><span class="verse v32" data-usfm="ACT.2.32"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v33" data-usfm="ACT.2.33"><span class="label">33</span><span class="content">Jesus was taken up to sit at the right side</span><span class="note f"><span class="label">#</span><span class=" body"><span class="fr">2.33 </span><span class="fq">right side</span><span class="ft">: The place of honour and power.</span></span></span><span class="content"> of God, and he was given the Holy Spirit, just as the Father had promised. Jesus is also the one who has given the Spirit to us, and that is what you are now seeing and hearing.</span></span></div><div class="pi"><span class="verse v33" data-usfm="ACT.2.33"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v34" data-usfm="ACT.2.34"><span class="label">34</span><span class="content">David didn't go up to heaven. So he wasn't talking about himself when he said, &#8220;The Lord told my Lord to sit at his right side,</span><span class="note x"><span class="label">#</span><span class=" body">Ps 110.1.</span></span><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v35" data-usfm="ACT.2.35"><span class="label">35</span><span class="content">until he made my Lord's enemies into a footstool for him.&#8221; </span></span><span class="verse v36" data-usfm="ACT.2.36"><span class="label">36</span><span class="content">Everyone in Israel should then know for certain that God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ, even though you put him to death on a cross.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v36" data-usfm="ACT.2.36"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v37" data-usfm="ACT.2.37"><span class="label">37</span><span class="content">When the people heard this, they were very upset. They asked Peter and the other apostles, &#8220;Friends, what shall we do?&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v37" data-usfm="ACT.2.37"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v38" data-usfm="ACT.2.38"><span class="label">38</span><span class="content">Peter said, &#8220;Turn back to God! Be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins will be forgiven. Then you will be given the Holy Spirit. </span></span><span class="verse v39" data-usfm="ACT.2.39"><span class="label">39</span><span class="content">This promise is for you and your children. It is for everyone our Lord God will choose, no matter where they live.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v39" data-usfm="ACT.2.39"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v40" data-usfm="ACT.2.40"><span class="label">40</span><span class="content">Peter told them many other things as well. Then he said, &#8220;I beg you to save yourselves from what will happen to all these evil people.&#8221; </span></span><span class="verse v41" data-usfm="ACT.2.41"><span class="label">41</span><span class="content">On that day about three thousand believed his message and were baptized. </span></span><span class="verse v42" data-usfm="ACT.2.42"><span class="label">42</span><span class="content">They spent their time learning from the apostles, and they were like family to each other. They also broke bread</span><span class="note f"><span class="label">#</span><span class=" body"><span class="fr">2.42 </span><span class="fq">broke bread</span><span class="ft">: They ate together and celebrated the Lord's Supper.</span></span></span><span class="content"> and prayed together.</span></span></div><div class="s1"><span class="heading">Life among the Lord's followers</span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v42" data-usfm="ACT.2.42"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v43" data-usfm="ACT.2.43"><span class="label">43</span><span class="content">Everyone was amazed by the many miracles and wonders that the apostles performed. </span></span><span class="verse v44" data-usfm="ACT.2.44"><span class="label">44</span><span class="content">All the Lord's followers often met together, and they shared everything they had.</span><span class="note x"><span class="label">#</span><span class=" body">Ac 4.32-35.</span></span><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v45" data-usfm="ACT.2.45"><span class="label">45</span><span class="content">They would sell their property and possessions and give the money to whoever needed it. </span></span><span class="verse v46" data-usfm="ACT.2.46"><span class="label">46</span><span class="content">Day after day they met together in the temple. They broke bread</span><span class="note f"><span class="label">#</span><span class=" body"><span class="fr">2.46 </span><span class="fq">broke bread</span><span class="ft">: They ate together and celebrated the Lord's Supper.</span></span></span><span class="content"> together in different homes and shared their food happily and freely, </span></span><span class="verse v47" data-usfm="ACT.2.47"><span class="label">47</span><span class="content">while praising God. Everyone liked them, and each day the Lord added to their group others who were being saved.</span></span></div>
      </div>
   </div>
</div>

On the day of Pentecost all the Lord's followers were together in one place. Suddenly there was a noise from heaven like the sound of a mighty wind! It filled the house where they were meeting. Then they saw what looked like fiery tongues moving in all directions, and a tongue came and settled on each person there. The Holy Spirit took control of everyone, and they began speaking whatever languages the Spirit let them speak.
Many religious Jews from every country in the world were living in Jerusalem. And when they heard this noise, a crowd gathered. But they were surprised, because they were hearing everything in their own languages. They were excited and amazed, and said:
Don't all these who are speaking come from Galilee? Then why do we hear them speaking our very own languages? Some of us are from Parthia, Media, and Elam. Others are from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, parts of Libya near Cyrene, Rome, Crete, and Arabia. Some of us were born Jews, and others of us have chosen to be Jews. Yet we all hear them using our own languages to tell the wonderful things God has done.
Everyone was excited and confused. Some of them even kept asking each other, “What does all this mean?”
Others made fun of the Lord's followers and said, “They are drunk.”

Peter stood with the eleven apostles and spoke in a loud and clear voice to the crowd:
Friends and everyone else living in Jerusalem, listen carefully to what I have to say! You are wrong to think that these people are drunk. After all, it is only nine o'clock in the morning. But this is what God led the prophet Joel to say,
“When the last days come,
I will give my Spirit
to everyone.
Your sons and daughters
will prophesy.
Your young men
will see visions,
and your old men
will have dreams.
In those days I will give
my Spirit to my servants,
both men and women,
and they will prophesy.

I will perform miracles
in the sky above
and wonders
on the earth below.
There will be blood and fire
and clouds of smoke.
The sun will turn dark,
and the moon
will be as red as blood
before the great
and wonderful day
of the Lord appears.
Then the Lord
will save everyone
who asks for his help.”
Now, listen to what I have to say about Jesus from Nazareth. God proved that he sent Jesus to you by having him perform miracles, wonders, and signs. All of you know this. God had already planned and decided that Jesus would be handed over to you. So you took him and had evil men put him to death on a cross. But God set him free from death and raised him to life. Death could not hold him in its power. What David said are really the words of Jesus,
“I always see the Lord
near me,
and I will not be afraid
with him at my right side.
Because of this,
my heart will be glad,
my words will be joyful,
and I will live in hope.
The Lord won't leave me
in the grave.
I am his holy one,
and he won't let
my body decay.
He has shown me
the path to life,
and he makes me glad
by being near me.”
My friends, it is right for me to speak to you about our ancestor David. He died and was buried, and his tomb is still here. But David was a prophet, and he knew that God had made a promise he would not break. He had told David that someone from his own family would some day be king.
David knew this would happen, and so he told us that Christ would be raised to life. He said that God would not leave him in the grave or let his body decay. All of us can tell you that God has raised Jesus to life!
Jesus was taken up to sit at the right side of God, and he was given the Holy Spirit, just as the Father had promised. Jesus is also the one who has given the Spirit to us, and that is what you are now seeing and hearing.
David didn't go up to heaven. So he wasn't talking about himself when he said, “The Lord told my Lord to sit at his right side, until he made my Lord's enemies into a footstool for him.” Everyone in Israel should then know for certain that God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ, even though you put him to death on a cross.
When the people heard this, they were very upset. They asked Peter and the other apostles, “Friends, what shall we do?”
Peter said, “Turn back to God! Be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins will be forgiven. Then you will be given the Holy Spirit. This promise is for you and your children. It is for everyone our Lord God will choose, no matter where they live.”
Peter told them many other things as well. Then he said, “I beg you to save yourselves from what will happen to all these evil people.” On that day about three thousand believed his message and were baptized. They spent their time learning from the apostles, and they were like family to each other. They also broke bread and prayed together.

Everyone was amazed by the many miracles and wonders that the apostles performed. All the Lord's followers often met together, and they shared everything they had. They would sell their property and possessions and give the money to whoever needed it. Day after day they met together in the temple. They broke bread together in different homes and shared their food happily and freely, while praising God. Everyone liked them, and each day the Lord added to their group others who were being saved.

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